Iceblossom

Well, I've been getting through my latest load of books off hold. Currently is Moby Dick, really the only major literary work I never read. Most of my audio books are 10-12 hours or so, this one is 23 hours.

Ok, I did read the Classic Comics version (lol remember those?), and I've seen the movies. It is not an easy book to listen to, I think some are better read. So the book famously starts with "Call me Ishmael", what I will say is that Ishmael talks a lot! Long expositions on ships, whales, whaling, whatever comes to mind. Currently in a chapter about whale skeletons and fossils. The action/story we know is maybe 1/4th the book (so far anyway).

After Moby Dick, I have a normal length book that I am forgetting the name right now. And then after that just came off hold yesterday is the first book in the prequel to the Game of Thrones books by George RR Martin set some 300 years before, a history of the Targaryens. Previews haven't been kind, but I put it on hold months ago. Because of the tv show (which really started to change from the books) the Game of Thrones saga has not been finished and some readers (including me) are annoyed about that. Also, Fire & Blood could be described as a history not a story. I'm looking at it more like the Silmarillon by Tolkien, more details but not quite up to snuff. But -- it's another huge book. 26 hours!

MaryMo

Fannie Flagg's books have been occupying my bedside table for several weeks. Even though I've read them all before I still find myself chuckling, such relaxing reading. Now that we're into the Christmas season, I've got several Christmas books to re-read and Hallmark movies to re-watch while I work on Christmas gifts. I think it's about time I explored the library for some new items to add.

rryder

I’ve started a book of short stories by sci fi writer Larry Niven. I’m working on the first one in the book, but it’s seeming to me like these are all waaaaay longer than short story length. I liked his Ringworld series which I read back in the last century! Not sure what I think about the first short story in the book I’m now reading...

Rob

gramma nancy

I just finished a delightful detective fiction book "Anonymous Rex" by Eric Garcia. Interesting mystery with a unique (and I do not use that word lightly) twist. Garcia has written a few others in the same vein but I have not read them.

MaryMo

Now to pick up some light reading . . . .

Iceblossom

Wow! It's been about a month since my last post here, so lots of books between then and now. I did finish Fire and Blood by George RR Martin. It is true it is not written like the Game of Thrones books but I thought it was interesting. I can see where some sections listing people's names might read like the phone book -- but overall I was not unhappy.

Just finished the latest Cormoran Strike book by Robert Galbraith -- better known as JK Rowling. These are "adult" books set in modern London. Strike is a private detective who lost part of his leg in a war injury in Afghanistan. This was book 4, I think Rowling plans on a total of about 10 books in the series.

Also just finished (as in last night), What the Dead Leave Behind by Rosemary Simpson. Mystery set in New York just after the Civil War and the start of a new series.

Previous to that was The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams. Non-fiction about fossils and a bunch of related stuff... had a lot to think about. Also did another non-fiction, The Personality Brokers by Merve Emry about the creators of the Myers-Briggs personality assessment.

Let's see... also finished the latest Mercy Thompson book by Patricia Briggs, Silence Fallen. Before there was the Twilight series there were other werewolves and (non sparkling) vampires in Washington State, eastern Washington. This book however mostly takes place in Europe. I've enjoyed the series and the related Alpha and Omega books more than some of the author's other works.

I'm working my way through the Elm Creek Quilt books and enjoying them quite a bit. Finished the Runaway Quilt, book 4 in the series if I'm remembering correctly.

Had to pull up my library history, one book I quite enjoyed was another modern fantasy, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances by Ruth Emmie Lang. It is a debut novel but I will watch for more from this author.

cashs_mom

I love to talk about books! This week I started Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich. It's one of the Stephanie Plum series. I love them! They are so funny and have just enough truth to them to make the very readable. Last week I was reading Jack Higgins Midnight Bell. It one of the Sean Dillon and Charles Ferguson books. I've read Jack Higgins for probably 20 years. I read the Eagle Has Landed Back in the day and I've loved his books ever since.

rryder

Partway through “Ninth Street Women”. About the women artists who were part of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York in the thirties, forties and fifties. Excellent history of their contributions with lots of discussion of the current events of the times and how their work was affected by broader economic and social events of the times.

Rob

tranum

“Prairie Fires” by Caroline Fraser (the real Laura Ingalls Wilder life story - not glossy)

next up is “Educated” by Tara Westover

KalamaQuilts

The Oyster Thief: A Novel by Sonia Faruqi

It is young adult I think and will probably end with romance, in the course of grand adventures and great bravery.
I got it because one of the reviews said the author had done a great job creating a merpeople world. What they call their food and do for jobs and names for their tools and toys..

In a way it reminds me of learning about Harry Potter's world. It is outside my experience but the alternate reality makes me think. And I found myself looking at seaweed recipes a few days ago.

I just finished Stephen King's Outsider on CD